GTA 6 release update is good news for next Grand Theft Auto, but not for PS4 and Xbox One

GTA Online recently launched the Casino Update for the game and it sounds like it could have an even bigger impact on the release of Rockstar Games next Grand Theft Auto game. Although it's unlikely to arrive on PS4 or Xbox One

GTA 5 might be one of the most successful games on PS4 and Xbox One, but fans are desperate to see and hear something about a possible GTA 6 release.

At this stage of the console's lifecycle it's reasonable to assume that when Rockstar does eventually release the next game in the series, it will come to next-gen platforms.

Namely, PS5, Xbox Scarlett and potentially Google's Stadia streaming platform. Several 'leaks' have indicated that the next Grand Theft Auto game will be a next-gen only release. But at this point it's more common sense than any sort of grand leak.

What is interesting, however, is how long fans have had to wait for the next game in the series. It's been nearly six years since GTA 5 launched, and even then, that was on the old console generation.

Sure the game got a re-release on PS4 and Xbox One with improved graphics, but it was still a game released at the tail end of the last console generation.

The idea that Rockstar Games might genuinely skip a whole generation without releasing a 'new' GTA game almost seems unfathomable.

There is, however, good reason as to why they've potentially done this and it's (indirectly) good news for anyone hoping to see the studio shuffle on from GTA 5 and get going with releasing GTA 6.

As many will probably know, GTA 5 was meant to have some single-player DLC. One way or another, this DLC was eventually canned and Rockstar moved on from the idea.

But a recent interview with some well-known leakers within the Rockstar Games community has given a different perspective.

Eurogamer recently spoke with Tez2 and Yan2295 to chronicle the six-year story of GTA Online's long-vacant casino, a good read if you've got yourself 10 minutes spare.

But the big takeaway, as far as we can see, is that the game's intended single-player DLC appears to have been fragmented and used as a base for several GTA Online updates.

Here's a bit more info direct from Eurogamer:

"According to Tez, one of the episodes was 'based on Trevor's story after the ending to Grand Theft Auto 5, in which he would work with the IAA.' This tantalising spoke of the rumour mill then spun off its hub when even more strings of code came to light in 2015. In May of that year, Tez's post on the GTAForums read "The main characters will rob the casino", listing strings that, when decoded, alluded to Oceans 11-style setup, preparation and heist missions, the kind that would go on to become a smash hit in the Online part of the game."

"The casino was supposed to come to GTA5 as single-player DLC as well as to GTA Online, but as many already know, the single-player DLCs got cancelled thanks to the success of GTA Online," Yan explained.

Tez believes that the leftovers of this bold expansion plan were eventually repurposed into content updates for GTA Online: "it turns out that most or some of the online updates that we received in 2017 and 2018 were based on the planned single-player DLC." Tez cites the Doomsday Heist update as a key example of this. While there's no casino, you work with the aforementioned IAA as part of the narrative, and it utilizes the malevolent 'Clifford' as its neural network antagonist - a name which cropped up during the 2015 casino leak.

(again, we really would advise reading the full feature, it's a good read! Just follow the link above)

As we've mentioned it sounds as though the planned GTA 5 Single Player DLC has been used as the basis of several of the big GTA Online updates released in the past few years.

If this was the case, and the Casino was the last piece of that particular puzzle, it seems conceivable that Rockstar could start 'winding down' GTA Online content.

We don't mean they will completely stop in the blink of an eye, because we know that the online side of the game is a major success and makes Rockstar Games an obscene amount of money year on year.

But at some point the development team has to move onto something new and if the last slice of that single-player DLC has been exhausted for the most recent GTA Casino update, then it's potentially a good time to break away.

More recently the boss at Take-Two, CEO Strauss Zelnick, stated:

“Looking ahead, Take-Two has the strongest development pipeline in its history, including sequels from our biggest franchises as well as exciting new IP. We are exceedingly well-positioned to capitalise on the positive trends in our industry, and to generate significant growth and margin expansion over the long-term.”

Whether GTA 6 fits into that list of sequels is unclear. It's certainly one of the companies biggest franchises.

And with a year to go before Sony and Microsoft release their next generation of home consoles, now might be as good a time as ever for Rockstar to start looking to what's next for the Grand Theft Auto series.